Creighton Volleyball Tops Hoyas For Seventh Straight Win

OMAHA, Neb. -- Creighton Volleyball won its seventh straight match on Friday night with a 3-0 win over Georgetown, a 25-12, 25-21, 25-17 sweep in front of 2,149 fans at D.J. Sokol Arena.

The win trims Creighton's (18-9, 13-2 BIG EAST) magic number to one as the Bluejays seek their 13th consecutive BIG EAST regular-season title. CU can clinch the title and the top seed for next week's BIG EAST Championship with a win in Sunday's 1 p.m. match vs. Villanova, or a Marquette loss on Saturday night vs. St. John's. 

Katie Dalton had a double-double with 34 assists and 10 digs while setting five Bluejay attackers to seven or more kills, four of whom hit .290 or better. Trinity Shadd-Ceres led the offensive explosion with 11 kills, while Ayden Ames had nine kills in 12 swings to hit a career-best .750. Adding to the offensive parity were Eloise Brandewie (8 kills,.304%) and Ashlyn Paymal (8 kills, .800%). Brandewie topped all players with five blocks, and Saige Damrow topped CU's defense with 14 digs. Creighton hit .370 and finished with 44 kills, 49 digs, eight blocks and seven aces.

Creighton hit .370 in the first set and held the Hoyas to -.033 hitting. Creighton led 14-9 near the midpoint of the first set before Sydney Breissinger served a 9-0 run that featured three straight aces at one point. A kill by Shadd-Ceres, who also had five digs in the set, closed out the 25-12 victory.

Georgetown used a 5-0 to take a 7-5 lead in the second set, but the Bluejays reversed fortunes with a 14-5 spurt. The Jays led 24-14, only to surrender seven straight points before another kill by Shadd-Ceres gave CU a 2-0 lead. Shadd-Ceres had seven kills in the second set and Dalton distributed 14 assists to lead CU.

Creighton led the third set 145-10 at the technical timeout and kept the Hoyas at arm's length while rolling to a 25-17 triumph. Paymal had four kills in five swings during the final frame, including the clincher on match point. Damrow had six digs in the third set and Dalton, Ames and Shadd-Ceres all registered a pair of blocks.

Georgetown was led by nine kills by Dionna Mitchell and 12 digs by Bella McGirr. The Hoyas hit .092 and had 30 kills, 45 digs, three blocks and two aces.